Middle East/North African Lit discussion

Dear All,
As you may know, the great Egyptian author
رضوى عاشور / Radwa Ashour passed away two days ago. In honor of her life and work, we are making a space here for an Open Radwa Ashour read. You can participate by posting comments on any Radwa Ashour book as soon or as late as you like. Feel free to post on more than one book. This takes us into Egyptian literature, which is our first stop for the 2015 cruise...

I love the work by her husband Mourid Barghouti, but am embarressed to say that I haven't read anything by Radwa. What would be the best book to start with?

I will start reading her book Al-Tantoria very soon. Hope someone will be interested in reading it with me.

Ghada wrote: "I will start reading her book Al-Tantoria very soon. Hope someone will be interested in reading it with me."

I have a copy of The Woman from Tantoura , hope to be able to read it with you :)

Niledaughter, it will be great. looking forward to reading it with u.

Anna wrote: "I love the work by her husband Mourid Barghouti, but am embarressed to say that I haven't read anything by Radwa. What would be the best book to start with?"

I love what I've seen of Mourid Barghouti's writing too. I'd like to read more in the coming years...

If you like fiction, then I recommend Granada or Siraaj: An Arab Tale. I wrote briefly about them on my blog here (Sorry for the shameless promotion! You could also read others' reviews under each book on Goodreads of course!)

If you like autobiography, then you could read Specters. It's the only Radwa Ashour book that we've read as a group. Here is the discussion thread.

If you want company, feel free to join in with those reading The Woman from Tantoura. As for myself, I'm hoping to start in on فرج (translated as Blue Lorries). It's hard to go wrong with Radwa Ashour!

Hello All
This is an audio collection of Radwa Ashour books, hope you find it interesting, thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Opv...

Thank you for that resource!

Melanie wrote: "Dear All,
As you may know, the great Egyptian author
رضوى عاشور / Radwa Ashour passed away two days ago. In honor of her life and work, we are making a space here..."
We should definitely include her in our 2015 Plan! I've never read anything of hers!

Jalilah, this is your chance - you can read as many or as few of her books as you want, as soon or as late as you want - Enjoy!

Ghada wrote: "Niledaughter, it will be great. looking forward to reading it with u."

When are you planning to read it , I am planning to read "Al harafeesh " in January .

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محمد wrote: "Hello All
This is an audio collection of Radwa Ashour books, hope you find it interesting, thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Opv..."


Thank you :)
مجهود مشكور

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I also want to read Blue Lorries , and I will be glad to join any discussion for Granada .

Nile daughter, i will sart it tom or after tom. If u have other time preference tell me I can postpond it.

Ghada wrote: "Nile daughter, i will sart it tom or after tom. If u have other time preference tell me I can postpond it."

I am not sure and I don't want to hold you back . OK go ahead and keep us updated .

Melanie wrote: "Jalilah, this is your chance - you can read as many or as few of her books as you want, as soon or as late as you want - Enjoy!"

Sure, but are we also going to have a group for any of her books?

I'm currently reading one of hers and really enjoying it: Woman from Tantoura. In the recent past, I read Granada. I think I would have at least given that one a score. I'm liking Woman... much more, and very much.

I'm having a hard time keeping up with the group, though I'd like to. I read very slowly.

Wonderful! I want to read Woman from Tantoura some day too. Please feel free to share with us any thoughts about it throughout your reading. Thanks for your presence here!

Jalilah wrote: "Sure, but are we also going to have a group for any of her books?..."

Not sure yet , you can start by Specters , the discussion thread is in Melanie's message number 6 , I am planning to read it and get back to that thread .
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Wow , I am sensing encouragement to read " Woman from Tantoura" :)

As I read the book and really enjoyed it, I really recommend reading and making a special thread for it.

Nile daughter wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "Sure, but are we also going to have a group for any of her books?..."

Not sure yet , you can start by Specters , the discussion thread is in Melanie's message number..."

Thanks! I saw my library has both Specters and Granada. I went ahead and ordered Granada. Would you suggest reading Specters first? It's not too late for me to change.

It doesn't matter which you read first. Granada is historical fiction, and Specters is autobiography.

Melanie wrote: "It doesn't matter which you read first. Granada is historical fiction, and Specters is autobiography."

Okay thanks! Was not sure if they were part of a series.

I just finished Blue Lorries. Did anyone else read it yet?

Good job! I'm reading it leisurely in Arabic. Feel free to share your thoughts whenever you like. I'll write mine too in a bit...

I started reading "The woman from Tantora " , I found this discussion in anther group interesting :)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I just read her book 'Granada' recently (my first Radwa Ashour read) and enjoyed it immensely! I read the auc press english translation which I felt was a very good translation too. would highly recommend for those who haven't read it!

Nadia wrote: "I just read her book 'Granada' recently (my first Radwa Ashour read) and enjoyed it immensely! I read the auc press english translation which I felt was a very good translation too. would highly re..."


That's good to know! My library has it.

It is a wonderful translation, I think. It's only part 1 of 3. Maybe some day we'll have 2 and 3 in English too...

I think we will open a thread for "Granada" in the prizes section for this year challenge .

Here it is :
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

That's great! I want to read that one.

Yay - great book! I'll reread it some day...

I'll definitely read it! Are we going to have a group read for it?

We will be reading and discussing "Granada" by April first . Thank you Jalila for leading the discussion .

Am half through it. Won't give my view before the official start on 1st April though.

I just finished reading فرج / Blue Lorries. I did not expect to like the book much because stories of imprisonment did not sound very fun to me, but I had to read it because Radwa Ashour wrote it. As it turned out, it was filled with many beautiful moments that compose our lives: the innocence and wisdom of childhood; the the love for, and distinction from, our parents; the countless decisions made in daily life that build and show one's character. The novel follows a woman's life, taking place mainly in the sixties to nineties. It discusses the sixties as a time of the Vietnam War, student and labor movements, and political protests. It's refreshing to hear about this time from an author so familiar with events in multiple continents. The novelist discusses Paris, France, as easily as the experience of political events in 1968 in the Middle East. The author's knowledge of civil rights in the U.S. also helped form her perspective. In addition to all the attention to activism, this is a coming-of-age story. It is a book about one woman's life, extraordinary even in ordinariness. It shows the value of a human life, and how a person does not need to be outstanding in any particular way in order to be quite interesting.

I've finished reading Specters, my first read by Radwa Ashour. I had my up and down moments with this book, but I surely liked her style of writing. I'll be adding my view on the book in its respective thread.

Thanks, Marwa!

You're welcome. Obviously Specters won't be my last read by Radwa Ashour :) Her style makes her so familiar to me that her writings become so easily likable and admired. I think I'll tackle the Granada Trilogy later on. (Don't know exactly when that'll be. I'm easily distracted by other books)

That's one of my favorites, as well as Siraaj: An Arab Tale, which is very short.